Does anyone know the specific criteria for the awards that recently showed up under profile on the mobile app? Is there a listing of requirements for each and each level? Would like to start a FAQ about them on this thread.

There seems to be some confusion about how close to a station you need to be, "Bills_Fan" posted a link to the Awards Levels Explained which states, and I quote:

"In order to earn awards, your phone's GPS must have an accurate fix and you must be less than 10 miles from the station that you're reporting from. If you are more than 10 miles away (or your GPS is reporting that you are) you will not earn credit towards the awards but will still earn points. For more information on how your location is determined, see this topic."

However this rule does not apply to Leaderboard status which apparently you must be within 1/2 mile of a station to attain Leaderboard points....

Honestly, I think this is promoting unsafe driving as one must use a cellphone while driving to achieve this...however, those riding a public transportation means of travel can report very easily along their route of travel...or those car-pooling that have nothing to do but report gas prices along the way....anyway, it is what it is lol...

If this is correct then I haven't advanced to Level 4 on the Iron Man level even though I'm at 447 consecutive days of posting....I'm showing 99% so I'm confused as to why I haven't advanced to level 4...

*PerfectionistReport all fuel grades at once for a station. Don't post prices for fuel grades a station doesn't sell.

*AdventurerReport prices for stations in different cities. See GPS note below

*PioneerReport prices for stations in different states. See GPS note below.

*Night OwlReport prices between the hours of 12am and 6am, your home site's time (or station's time; this is still unclear)

*Sunday DriverReport prices on a Sunday

*CommuterReport at least one price between midnight and noon, and another price between noon and midnight. You must report prices in both the AM and PM on consecutive days or your progress will reset to 0. If you had previously earned an award you will have to start over but will not lose any previously earned awards. Example: If you report prices in the AM and PM on Thursday and Friday , and just the PM on Saturday, your progress will reset to 0 on Saturday afternoon.

**Frequency of postingIf you report prices for the same station in a short amount of time, you will not earn awards for the subsequent postings. It is believed the timespan is approximately 10 minutes.

**Notes on GPSIn order to earn awards, your phone's GPS must have an accurate fix and you must be less than 10 miles from the station that you're reporting from. If you are more than 10 miles away (or your GPS is reporting that you are) you will not earn credit towards the awards but will still earn points. For more information on how your location is determined, see this topic.

**Previous creditAwards are calculated based on your app activity since October 5, 2011 (the day the awards were introduced)

**PurposeThe purpose of the awards is disputed. Various reasons include Gamification, encouraging more frequent posting, and generally making the app more fun. Various complaints include that there is no purpose and that they lead to inaccurate posts. Remember that you can't please 100% of the people 100% of the time.

In addition to what Byte_Doctor said, I believe that if you are posting prices for the same station before and after noon, some reasonable amount of time must pass for it to count. I.E. you can't post prices for the same station as 11:59 a.m. and 12:01 p.m. and expect them to count.

"Could anyone please explain how the Commuter badge works on the mobile app. What exactly do you have to do. "

What we have determined is that you must post prices for at least one station before noon, and at least one station after noon, but not necessarily the same station (although it can be). The prices must be posted through the app, GPS must be enabled, and you must be within 10 miles of the station at the time you post the prices. You must do this each and every day (including weekends) or your progress toward the next level is reset to 0.

I think that's it, unless I've overlooked something in which case I'm sure someone will fill in the blank.

Making it to 500 different cities is going to be tough. It's not as difficult as Pioneer, but it's still a bunch.

We don't travel along many different routes these days so the cities passed through are often the same. I did run over to Cedar Rapids last month and added a few new cities in IL and IA along the way; however, in the 10 states traveled, there have been only 280 cities visited.

I have only been using app for about eight months so I am only at Level Four on Explorer, and Level Three on Iron Man and Commuter.

Continuous days was challenging with desktop or laptop only entry.App makes continuous days much easier.But the app bonus awards add way too many new levels of OCD angst!!!

And a couple categories require a lot of travel.I don't do that much since retired.I would have to take two three week long ten state road trips per year and use the app ten times per day to make any progress on some.

Took short 180 mile round trip journey yesterday, and Explorer made EXCITING progress from 21% to 22% towards Level Five!!!

I reached level 5 in Iron Man some time ago, but occasionally missed a morning or evening so still haven't reached level 5 Commuter. Also still working on Adventurer and Pioneer as my travels take me different places.

Scrapheap said "I maxed out everything other than Commuter and Pioneer long ago."

That's pretty impressive. I don't see ever maxing out on Commuter or Pioneer (only 66% to level 3) either. And, I've only reached 56% to level 5 on Adventurer (230/500 different cities). The rest have been closed out for a while.

The reason I asked about Iron Man is because I noticed that mine is at 52% today. It only takes one missed day posting from the app and the 2 years apparently starts over. I made it to 71% once and then had to begin again.

Interesting question. The Iron Man award, "report a gas price for 50 consecutive days" shouldn't be difficult but I've been on Level 2 for more than 2 years. The last time I asked about why I hadn't progressed beyond Level 2 (I think a year ago) in conjunction with a adding to a thread's discussion, I was told something to the effect that I had posted a price posted several prices 20 miles away. I told the moderators that the prices were at the end of my daily commute; I never received any follow-up and am taking it for granted that the Iron Man award has stalled out.

Well wa2joc, they seem to be happy with how the criteria are structured as they have ignored that very suggestion for the Commuter award in the past. As much as I'd like to see it, I doubt it will ever happen.

*PerfectionistReport all fuel grades at once for a station. Don't post prices for fuel grades a station doesn't sell.

*AdventurerReport prices for stations in different cities. See GPS note below

*PioneerReport prices for stations in different states. See GPS note below.

*Night OwlReport prices between the hours of 12am and 6am, your home site's time (or station's time; this is still unclear)

*Sunday DriverReport prices on a Sunday

*CommuterReport at least one price between midnight and noon, and another price between noon and midnight. You must report prices in both the AM and PM on consecutive days or your progress will reset to 0. If you had previously earned an award you will have to start over but will not lose any previously earned awards. Example: If you report prices in the AM and PM on Thursday and Friday , and just the PM on Saturday, your progress will reset to 0 on Saturday afternoon.

**Frequency of postingIf you report prices for the same station in a short amount of time, you will not earn awards for the subsequent postings. It is believed the timespan is approximately 10 minutes.

**Notes on GPSIn order to earn awards, your phone's GPS must have an accurate fix and you must be less than 10 miles from the station that you're reporting from. If you are more than 10 miles away (or your GPS is reporting that you are) you will not earn credit towards the awards but will still earn points. For more information on how your location is determined, see this topic.

**Previous creditAwards are calculated based on your app activity since October 5, 2011 (the day the awards were introduced)

**PurposeThe purpose of the awards is disputed. Various reasons include Gamification, encouraging more frequent posting, and generally making the app more fun. Various complaints include that there is no purpose and that they lead to inaccurate posts. Remember that you can't please 100% of the people 100% of the time.

" I know my stations--they do NOT offer any such promos in our area..."

It's not whether you know your stations or not. It's that Gas Buddy instructions are "...without visually recording the price for yourself." That seems pretty clear that you should be posting prices based on your viewing them, not assuming them, even if you do know your stations.

I still see nothing wrong with it. If I confirm the price when it changes, and the unleaded price does not change, the other 2 prices aren't changing, either. I know my stations--they do NOT offer any such promos in our area, and I've been posting these prices for several years. When the sign price changes, I swing by the pumps to confirm the mid and premium prices. Otherwise, there is no need to drive up to the pump every day. Since prices generally fluctuate every few days, anyway, they are being confirmed on a regular basis.

I don't think one should post a price one did not see in person. And that includes mid- and premium- grades which are not posted on street signs.

Yes, I know the delta is usually constant. But its only *usually* constant. A lot of stations around here used to conduct promotions where all grades were the same price. The idea being one to get you addicted to premium and you will stay a premium customer. Think it backfired as too many observed, "How about that? Didn't make any difference!"

as I said, I only do this for the 2 stations by my house that don't post all prices on the sign. I do verify the prices at the pump every few days or so, but again, the stations have consistently kept the price divisions with few variations for several years. If I verify the prices and the reg price has not changed, the odds that mid- or premium are going to change are EXTREMELY low. Once there is a reg price change, I drive through the pumps to reconfirm the other 2 prices.

I try to drive through some stations on a daily basis and pull up to the pump and report all pricing directly from the pump. When a station has a diesel pump, do you have to include that pump price in order to quality for "reporting all prices"?

I made a decision to fill up in Mansfield PA on my way to Rochester NY based on prices that were reported the way altonb1 describes. My car takes premium. The person who reported prices in Mansfield got the price wrong for premium at every station in Mansfield. He was a dime low.

Now with that said, I only post the "unseen" prices for those few stations near my house that I know this to be true. Specifically, they have followed that format for years, so the odds of being wrong with the unseen prices would be EXTREMELY small. If I'm reporting prices at an unfamiliar station, I only post/confirm the prices I can see.

aj_quick wrote > Am I to understand correctly? In order to get the "Top Spotters" spot you have to report all gas prices at the station in order for it to count?

You understand incorrectly. Any report of any grade counts toward top spotter but number of grades posted does factor into at least a tie breaking position.

aj_quick wrote > This makes sense because I've been updating regularly at a station but haven't been getting a 'Top Spotter' mark for it. Someone else keeps reporting the price (incorrectly I might add) and their Top Spotter keeps going up.

You haven't been getting credit for it? Or is it that the number of credits you have is not changing? Top spotter is only based on the last 30 days of activity.

Am I to understand correctly? In order to get the "Top Spotters" spot you have to report all gas prices at the station in order for it to count?

This makes sense because I've been updating regularly at a station but haven't been getting a 'Top Spotter' mark for it. Someone else keeps reporting the price (incorrectly I might add) and their Top Spotter keeps going up.

<<<my primary stations used to post a sign with all 4 prices, so I posted all 4. Last week, they installed electronic signs with only 2 prices...now I only post the 2 I can see from the street.>>>

That is correct - unfortunately, there are those that are more about "games" and "awards" and "social media" type stuff that will make up the other prices. Any games/awards that encourages posting all grades is doomed to encourage self-centered game players more concerned with their own ego to post false prices.

Around me, it seems the majority of stations post either just regular, or regular and diesel - There are stations I where I will see that the same person will post all grades for more than one station within an hour. I highly doubt they are driving up to the pump at all the various stations.

" ... some Top Spotters who also made it a point to post three gas prices and a diesel price daily. It was just hard to believe they would drive up to the pumps to check the pump price for those two distinct stations."

I'm a fairly newbie here but I've often wondered that too. I see this everyday as I commute & am usually a few minutes behind one of the top spotters. I thought entering prices so you can earn a token award was supposed to be fun.

Byte_ Doctor: The only reason I know about it, because I normally never checked it, was someone PM'ed about it. I don't believe it's been announced.

The reason it came up in discussion was because we were talking about my seeing occasional errors and noted they were by that some Top Spotters who also made it a point to post three gas prices and a diesel price daily. It was just hard to believe they would ddrive up to the pumps to check the pump price for those two distinct stations. It was mentioned to check their awards status for perspective. So now it seems there can be more "competition" among members.

Gas_Buddy wrote: "Now, at least using the Android app, you can see the award levels of those who are on the Top Spotters list. Simply click on their name in the Top Spotters' list and when their page opens, click on the "View Details" box under "Awards" Now, rather than simply personal achievement, you can see (said while biting my tongue) what you need to do to "beat" the other person."

Since I never look at the Top Spotter list for any of the stations I post, much less look at any details for members in that list, I was unaware of that. I wonder (but not enough to bother looking) if the iPhone app allows this as well.

What triggers the bonus points is an arbitrary Gas Buddy decision to provide an on-the-spot incentive for members to participate more than they might otherwise, in order to get extra points by enticing those who don't max out their daily price posting, to max out their posting by offering "extra" points.

bar1035:

"This sounds like a big joke on the users."

It's less a joke on the users than it is the equivalent of taking a picture of yourself and posting it on your home page somewhere. It's a warm fuzzy. g The more you post prices (which is what points, you reach another level. When you've done everything that can be done, you've reached level 5 and can feel good about yourself and, if you're accurately posted fuel prices to help others be more knowledgeable shoppers, you can feel good about yourself for doing so.

It's similar to earning points, and the more points you get, the newer the icon is for your profile. And it's similar to earning the "speed wings" on your profile's icon for 90 consecutive days of Gas Buddy participation. It's a feel good for you. It shows you self-acchievement (to use Byte_Doctor's word) or dedication.

Byte_Doctor wrote:"Certainly nothing to get excited about since nobody else can see them, they are somewhat arbitrary and are meaningless in the overall scheme of things."

That used to be the case, that only the member him/herself could see the award levels reached. Now, at least using the Android app, you can see the award levels of those who are on the Top Spotters list. Simply click on their name in the Top Spotters' list and when their page opens, click on the "View Details" box under "Awards" Now, rather than simply personal achievement, you can see (said while biting my tongue) what you need to do to "beat" the other person.

Since they are for mobile users who achieve certain goals "Achievement" might be more descriptive.

Certainly nothing to get excited about since nobody else can see them, they are somewhat arbitrary and are meaningless in the overall scheme of things. But they do achieve their own goal - that is, to keep a certain type of member engaged and posting prices with the app. Unfortunately, there are a certain subset of members who are willing to cheat to reach those achievements.

On two occasions, today and once a few months back, when I posted prices from the app it gave me 2000 points instead of the usual 1000 points max per day.When it did that today it flashed message that said something about 1000 bonus points but the app messages are so brief they are hard to read.And I see no way to review past messages.What is 1000 bonus points and what triggers it???